Forty Senate Democrats have signed on
to a letter calling for the rejection of an amendment that would
allow adoption agencies to refuse gay and lesbian couples.

The amendment, introduced by
Representative Robert Aderholt, a Republican from Alabama, would
prohibit federal, state and local governments from denying funds to
adoption agencies that have “declined or will decline to provide,
facilitate or refer for a child welfare service that conflicts with …
the provider's sincerely held religious beliefs of convictions.”

State and local governments that
violate the law would be penalized with a fifteen percent cut in
federal funding.

The amendment is attached to funding
legislation for the Departments of Labor, Health & Human Services
and Education. It cleared a House panel earlier this month.

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden is leading the
effort against the measure.

“Allowing child welfare agencies to
close the door to willing and fully qualified foster and adoptive
parents due to a difference in religious belief opens the door to
taxpayer-funded discrimination and deprives vulnerable children of
safe and loving homes,” the
senators wrote. “We strongly encourage you to reject this
language and instead, support federal laws and regulations barring
discrimination, and protect the rights of all qualified parents who
answer the call to foster and adopt children in foster care.”

In a statement, the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU), called the amendment “unacceptable.”

“There are over 118,000 children
awaiting adoption in the United States,” said the ACLU's Ian
Thompson. “The best way to provide loving and stable homes for
these children is to have as many qualified prospective foster and
adoptive parents as possible. Today, 40 members of the Senate – led
by Senator Wyden (D-OR) – joined leading child welfare
organizations and civil rights advocates in saying that
discrimination has no place in our child welfare system because every
child deserves the opportunity to grow up with the support of a
loving family. We join these senators in making clear that the
discrimination and harm that would be caused by the Aderholt
Amendment is unacceptable.”

Nine states – Alabama, Michigan,
Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Oklahoma
and Kansas – have enacted similar laws.